


All Hail the Queen

by Rae_chan



Series: Queen Sakura [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Dead Hinoka, Dead Ryoma, Dead Takumi, Everyone is Dead, Queen Sakura, cold!Sakura, sad!Sakura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 00:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8034349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rae_chan/pseuds/Rae_chan
Summary: Sakura never wanted to be queen, but the death of her siblings ensures it. She may be the kindest of the royals, but ruling has made her colder.  Conquest based drabble





	All Hail the Queen

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by this heartbreaking tumblr post, I mean how could I not write something for it : ^)  
> http://battlebees.tumblr.com/post/147595847544/so-cute-fates-fact-if-sakura-is-a-priestess-her

“Queen Sakura, the Nohrian royals have sent an envoy awaiting your audience,” the steward bowed in the doorway.

“Who?” she asked tight-lipped, she could not imagine what they wanted now, lording their victory over her and taking advantage of her inexperience.

“Princess Elise,” the steward confirmed. They always sent her when they wanted something difficult. Princess Elise was the same age as Sakura and like her had been kept to the sideline throughout the war taking care of the wounded as they were both talented healers. Sakura never had nightmares of the youngest princess, but it was hard to forgive her either, when she was the one who came with the hardest of the requests that Nohr made of her. Sakura nodded to the steward to let her in.

“Sakura,” Princess Elise said at her entry.

“Queen Sakura.” Sakura said hard lipped, “You should get used to addressing me properly,”  
Elise looked sad, her cheerful friendly demeanor falling to the side. Perhaps in another life they could have been the best of friends, but not now, Sakura was much too busy for friends.

“The King sent me to discuss your line of succession,” Elise began, but Sakura cut her off with a wave.

“How many t-times do I have to tell you that I will not marry Prince Leo, I will not tie myself to your country,” Sakura had practiced hard at controlling her slight nervous stutter, but it often reared its head when she was caught by surprise.

“He did not send me to try that again, I made it very clear to him when I returned from my last visit. I am simply here to remind you that you need a line of succession, unless you wish to hand your crown to Corrin,” Elise explained, only to be cut off by Sakura hitting her desk with her fist.

“Corrin cannot even enter Hoshido, she is exiled, cutting her off from the line of succession,” Sakura collected herself after the outburst, “I recognize the need for heirs, but I cannot leave a half broken country for my children, or do you forget the overwhelming amount of damage your families troops did to Hoshido,”

“I-” Princess Elise seemed unable to formulate a response.

“Do you see my dilemma?” Sakura said coldly, “Now if there is nothing else, you should go relay my message to your brother,” She said the word brother even more icily, Elise physically shrunk back and left. Sakura took a breath in before releasing it along with the tension in her body. She regretted treating the princess with hostility, she saw so much of herself in her, a sheltered gentle princess with more love to give than her small size belied.

Princess Elise had been nothing but kind to her, even attending her coronation despite Sakura's insistence that they need not show their faces. She would prefer to deal with Elise, but not when her family seemed to send her with such tired topics such as marriage and children. She had been thrown every marriage proposal under the sun, but she had denied them en masse, quoting the same reason she had just made to Elise.

“Queen Sakura, do you really have to be so cold,” came the one voice she hadn't wanted to hear that day.

“Kaze, I didn't realize she had brought more than her usual entourage,” Sakura knitted her brow, regarding Corrin's retainer as she would an infected wound.

“I came at Lady Corrin's request, she wishes to know if there is any way that you would lift her exile so she can come see you,” the green haired ninja made the request down on one knee with his head bowed respectfully.

“That is not a request I can grant, she is responsible for every death Hoshido has suffered, if not directly, but because of her choice,” Sakura stood and turned towards the window which looked out over the gardens and the hidden grove where her entire family lay buried, “She chose this fate, and she must accept its consequences,”

She heard a grunt and then the tell tale whoosh of a ninja leaving. She lifted her gaze to above the window where the divine weapons Ranjito and Fujin Yumi hung. Their dull color matched how she felt, as if she had been sapped of all the colour in her life.

She remembered Corrin returning them to her in her make shift cell, tears in her eyes. Sakura had asked where her siblings were and Corrin had told her she was free to leave and return to the castle. She had not understood, but when she came back to the castle, everything was in mayhem.

Yukimura had found her first, grabbing her and moving her somewhere private where he sat her down and told her the grave news. Hinoka had been defeated and then hunted down and slaughtered along with her retainers, Ryoma had taken his own life in order to avoid falling into Nohrian hands and Takumi had fallen from the wall, disappearing until after the final battle and then ultimately being slain by Corrin's Yato.

Then he said it, the country in chaos needed a leader, a ruler, and she was the only one who could take the title. She had not been able to process it all before breaking down completely, feeling the weight of the deaths and the responsibility being thrust upon her shoulders. Yukimura tried to reassure her that he could handle the logistics just fine, that she simply needed to approve them and be the face of Hoshido. That thought made things even worse, while she liked going out into town to help the people, she did not want to have to appear in front of them and rule them.

 

She left her study to go outside for a break before Yukimura or Orochi or one of her retainers would come and collect her for some other duty. She sat on a bench overlooking a koi pond, watching the colourful fish swim this way and that. There were eight of them of them, one for each member of the royal family, Sakura watched the only white koi with a slight disdain, that one had been Corrin's choice, bigger than the others with oddly shiny scales and bright red eyes to match the princess.

This had been just after Sakura was born, and just before her mother Ikona had finally died. Sakura did not mourn for her, as she had never known her, but Ryoma had always told her of how frail she had been, that it had not been a surprise when she died. She stood from her place and turned back, coming face to face with Hana.

“Sakura,” she said gently, “I knew I would find you here, come on,”  
Sakura bowed her head tiredly and followed her retainer back into the castle. Hana had been supportive of her the whole three years she had been Queen, both with personal matters and as the general of the Hoshidan Army, a duty she shared with Subaki, her husband.

Her siblings retainers, the ones who had survived and remained in the castle, had been supportive of her. Only one retainer had not returned after the war had come to a close with the farce of a peace treaty signed. Takumi's retainer Oboro slipped away after her liege was slain and there were now rumors of a bounty hunter who specialized in Nohrian contracts of high status and more than once Sakura had received visits from Prince Leo, the Nohrian general, asking if she could 'call off her dog.' to which she always answered that she much preferred cats, not stray dogs whose masters had been cut down.

The Prince always wore a scowl in her presence, it was as if everything he laid eyes on was beneath him. His arrogance was punctuated with a silver tongue, making her feel a child for falling victim to his jabs. It was no wonder she didn't want to marry him. The other reason was the image she had of his magic being the thing that had knocked her retainers out and led to her capture. She had nightmares that posed him as the one who had made Takumi fall on that wall, cursing him and then flinging him off with the shining branches of his magic.

 

Her nightmares painted by the things she had been told, versus what she feared, with Corrin and her siblings murdering her own siblings. She watched over and over as Ryoma was stabbed repeatedly in the same place by the Nohrian King Xander and Corrin, how Hinoka was dashed to pieces with axe and teeth by Princess Camilla and her haunting Wyvern, Corrin watching from off to the side, and Takumi, her darling brother being knocked back by the Prince Leo's magic tree right into Corrin's waiting Yato.

She still dreamed of Mikoto, the woman she always knew as mother, how she had died in Corrin's place, sparking the other into a rage so powerful they became a massive dragon. Despite her grief, it seemed her dreams still revolved around Corrin, the woman she had grown up hearing how she had been kidnapped and that they needed to get her back. She had been back for a week before she was caught between both armies and sided with the dark country of Nohr.

Sakura had not understood, but it had not hit her until she found Hinoka tearing apart a training dummy with tears streaming from her eyes, or Takumi snapping at everyone, even at her, or Ryoma hiding away in his war council, plotting the next battle. She had thought her siblings were strong enough to take Corrin back, by force if necessary, she even began training with a bow in hope she could help. She had fought Corrin in the castle, and had lost, allowing herself to be captured as Corrin commanded the soldiers be let go, only for those soldiers to ignore her and slaughter the men as she was dragged away.

She didn't eat or drink anything they brought her, refusing to see anyone or talk to anyone. Corrin had forced her way in, begging for her to eat something, but she had said nothing, simply turning her back on this woman as she had turned her back on the idea that Corrin was their sister after they had received word the Nohrian forces were marching for the castle.

 

“Queen Sakura, there is an urgent message from the royal family in Nohr,” the steward produced a letter with Xander's seal on it. She impassively opened it and read its contents, telling of an out break of a disease that required herbs that could only be found in Hoshido, and that their stocks of it were insufficient for the number of people who needed treatment. She sighed and sent the steward to find out if there was a merchant willing to travel to the ports to deliver them, and to find a team of apothecaries willing to go out and collect them.

She wrote a reply to be sent immediately telling that the herbs would be delivered. She contemplated making a counter demand, but thought better of it, the more favors they owed her, the better off she would be. She knew that a reputation as generous was dangerous, but she needed to bide her time so she could think of a suitable demand she could make of them. Hoshido might be a plentiful country, but rebuilding was taking time, perhaps she would have them pay in man power to help rebuild the towns they destroyed.

Finally the sun fell beneath the horizon, signaling the end of the day and the last straw of her nerves. She went straight to her room, locking the door behind her she gathered up the tattered dolls she still had of her siblings and let herself let go of her proper facade, giving way to the crushing sadness she felt. She sobbed openly, ignoring both times she heard a knock at her door, followed by the ratting of the latch before the unwelcome guest would leave.

She never wanted to be Queen despite her wish to be more like Mikoto. Ryoma and Takumi were the ones who had learned about politics and history, and how running a whole country worked. Hinoka had been much too busy training to bother, and Sakura had been too young until just recently, receiving only the basics of that education. Now she was living it, and had to do so with a firm hand and a smile when required.

As her crying quieted, she examined each doll in turn, running her fingers over their embroidered faces and carefully stitched clothes. She had gotten these dolls made after Corrin had been kidnapped because she had woken up crying every night with the fear her other siblings would be gone too. As she grew, she kept them safe and in good repair, at least she had before they had all died. Now they were threadbare and faded and she instantly felt regret, feeling like she had let her siblings down, not caring properly for the one memento she had of them.

She carefully replaced the dolls in the corner right next to where she slept to make sure they were well within reach for when a nightmare struck. Here in the privacy of her room was the only place she had to be the girl she still was, instead of the grown up Queen she had to be every other waking moment.


End file.
